I Dare You
by twstofate
Summary: Stephanie and the man who could ruin everything for her have to come to grips with a few truths (that's possibly the worst summary I've ever written). Spoilers thru 2/7 SmackDown/


*** Wow...it's been a long time since I've posted anything! I hope you like it! There are spoilers from 2/7 SmackDown (I was there when it was taped and I felt so inspired!). And this is a creation of my overactive imagination. I don't own the WWF. The song is "I Dare You" by Switchfoot. Enjoy and please review!!!***  
  
// Welcome to the planet  
Welcome to existence //  
  
She was pregnant? She was fucking pregnant? And she was going to stay with that ass of a husband of hers? What the hell is that all about? What the hell have I been working toward for the few months if she's going to renew her damn vows to him?  
  
I hit my hand on the locker in front of me. I growled in pain. I absently stroked my aching hand as I turned back to the monitor. Damn HHH for ever being that close to her stomach. And damn me for ever caring about her.  
  
And damn her for being pregnant.  
  
// Everyone's here  
Everyone's here //  
  
"Congratulations Stephanie," I heard voices say to me the next day as I walked into the Staples Center with Hunter for the taping of Smackdown.  
  
"Thanks," I said, smiling brightly.  
  
Hunter's hand grasped mine a little tighter. I could feel everyone looking at me. I could hear everyone predicting how long it would take for Hunter and I to fall apart again. I could sense that they all thought I was going to fail as a mother.  
  
Except for him...he was just watching from the shadows. But I sensed him.  
  
// Everybody's watching you now  
Everybody waits for you now  
What happens next //  
  
What the hell do I do? Do I avoid her and pretend she didn't step all over my heart? Do I act like she never meant anything to me? Oh hell no, that would be out of character.  
  
"Hello," she whispered as she came to stand in front of me.  
  
"I'm not going to congratulate you Princess," I said, crossing my arms over my chest as I leaned against the wall behind me.  
  
"I know," she said sadly. "There's so much I wish I could say to you but it's too late now."  
  
"Too late for what?" I asked.  
  
"It's just too late," Stephanie said as she walked away from me.  
  
// I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor //  
I sat on the couch in Hunter's dressing room. I was going to stay in that room until Hunter came back. I wasn't going to take the chance that I would piss him off. I know he had doubts about the baby. Hell, he wanted to come to the appointment with the OBGYN.   
  
That's okay though, I acknowledge I'm not a trustworthy person. But this baby is more real than anyone could ever believe.  
  
And Hunter really shouldn't be worried about the baby's existence. He should be worried about the baby's paternity...because I sure am worried about it.  
  
// I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
Like today never happened //  
  
"What the fuck is it too late for?" I asked myself. I looked up as the door to my dressing room opened.  
  
"Hey," I said to Christian as he walked in and handed me a bottle of water. "Thanks."  
  
"Sure," Christian said. "You okay?"  
  
"Course I am," I said, assuming a posture of satisfaction. "Never better."  
  
"You know," Christian said. "That was pretty funny what you did out there tonight. And you sure pissed the crap out of HHH."  
  
"I guess," I said glumly.  
  
// Today never happened before //  
  
I clutched desperately at my stomach. I couldn't believe this was happening. I knew I was going to lose the baby. I knew it. I never thought it would be him that would cause me pain.  
  
But he had caused me pain before. On so many different occasions. But I still thought he loved me. I still thought he would protect me.  
  
"You okay baby?" Hunter whispered to me.  
  
"I'm...I don't know," I said. The knotting in my stomach decreased and I breathed a sigh of relief. "I think I'll be okay."  
  
"I'm going to kick his ass," Hunter growled.  
  
"Baby, don't," I whispered, but he was already assisting me out of the ring so I could have a front row seat to the ensuing destruction.  
  
I never should have come to check on Hunter.  
  
// Welcome to the fallout  
Welcome to existence //  
  
I accepted the beating Hunter gave me. It might have happened after they stopped taping for SmackDown. I really don't care of people didn't see it. Stephanie saw it. I deserved that beating. I deserved everything Hunter did to me.  
  
And knowing Stephanie was there, cheering Hunter on made me realize everything that I had lost. I didn't even know I had lost it until she asked Hunter to renew their vows on RAW.  
  
"Stay away from my wife," Hunter said after he was done demolishing me.  
  
"Whatever," I said, rolling out of the ring.  
  
// Redemption is here  
Redemption is here //  
  
The hotel door clicked quietly behind me. Hunter had finally fallen asleep. I had to talk to him. He had to be as confused as I am. When I found out that I was pregnant, the only thing that entered my mind was the best way to protect my baby.  
  
But I have to tell him. Tell him that I still love him. Tell him that even though I will be with Hunter, I will think of him every day that I'm carrying this baby.  
  
How could I not?  
  
// Between who you are and who you could be  
Between how it is and how it should be //  
  
I wasn't sleeping after SmackDown. All I could see every time I closed my eyes was Stephanie crumpled up on the mat. And it had been my fault. I knew I had been so afraid to admit it in the past...but I loved her. I had loved her since the first time she ever hugged me.  
  
And I had hurt her. She had received physical pain at my hands before. Not because I intended for her to get hurt, but because she felt the need to get in the middle anytime her husband and I came to blows.  
  
When I heard a knock on my door, I was glad for the respite. I couldn't take the loneliness of my own thoughts anymore. But when I opened the door I wished I could disappear.  
  
// I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor //  
  
"Hey," he said, standing in his doorway. I could see pain in his eyes. He was hurting as bad as I was. But neither of us were willing to admit how much we were hurting without each other.  
  
"Can I come in?" I asked.  
  
"Why?" he asked. There was an edge to his voice that I rarely heard. Only after he confronted me about how I denied our first night together. It had been so long ago.   
  
And when I bought ECW he had taken that tone with me as he lectured me. It scared me when he used that tone. Like everything we had could be destroyed.   
  
His eyes flew to my abdomen as I unconsciously covered it with my hand. The expression in his eyes changed. He grabbed my other hand and pulled me into the room.  
  
// I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
Like today never happened //  
  
"Are you okay?" I asked, finally letting the guilt I felt at the hit she had taken at my hands be voiced. "I mean is your baby alright?"  
  
"As far as I know the baby is fine," she said.  
  
I breathed a sigh of relief as I sat down on my bed. She sat down next to me. "I was afraid for you," I admitted. "It made me feel better when Hunter beat me up. I deserved it."  
  
"No you didn't," Stephanie said. "You didn't do it on purpose."  
  
"But I still did it," I said.  
  
"I know you never would have intentionally hurt me," Stephanie said. "Especially now. But Jericho was a different matter. I was really scared when he was walking toward me."  
  
"I wouldn't have let him hurt you," I said softly.  
  
// Today never happened //  
  
"You're probably wondering why I'm here," I said to him.  
  
"A little," he said. "I'm a little bit confused about...everything."  
  
"What do you mean?" I asked.  
  
"I mean where does this baby leave you and me?" I asked. "I've been with you for well over a year. And now it's just...over?"  
  
"I think I might be able to confuse you just a little bit more," I said, taking his hand. "But I need you to remember...everything I've done, I did it for the baby."  
  
// Maybe redemption has stories to tell  
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell //  
  
"Oh my God," I said, not believing I hadn't thought about this before.   
  
"What?" she asked, dread filling her beautiful blue eyes.  
  
"It's mine," I said.   
  
"It might be," she said softly. "I hope it is. Because it's you that I love. But..."  
  
"I love you too," I said, squeezing her hand in mine.  
  
"But I have to stay with Hunter," Stephanie said. "I couldn't live with myself if he hurt you or the baby because I couldn't get up the guts to just leave him."  
  
"You never really had a chance to," I reasoned for her.  
  
"I did," she disagreed.  
  
// Where can you run to escape from yourself?  
Where you gonna go?  
Where you gonna go? //  
  
"When Hunter made me choose between you and him," I said. "I should have chosen you. I should have had the guts to follow my heart."  
  
"Shh..." he said, cupping my face in his hand. "That's the past. We worked through that."  
  
"But don't you understand?" I asked miserably. "We really have to be over now."  
  
"Why?" he asked.   
  
"Because I have to think of this baby and not what I want," I said, once again caressing my stomach with my hand.  
  
// Salvation is here //  
  
"We can get away," I said suddenly. "We can just leave."  
  
"I...I can't," she said uncertainly.  
  
"What do you have here that's keeping you here?" I asked her. "You and you're parents aren't getting along, you don't love Hunter, Shane isn't here. What would keep you here?"  
  
"You can't just leave," she said.  
  
"Oh I think I can," I said.   
  
"But how will we survive?" she asked. "I have barely anything to my name and you won't have a job anymore."  
  
"I have some money put away baby," I said. "And we'll have to learn to live like normal people. You know...what you were so afraid of when we went into Survivor Series."  
  
"I can't believe you and I managed to convince Shane that we really wanted the Alliance to survive," she said.   
  
"I only wish you hadn't been so convincing," I said. "Maybe your dad would help us then."  
  
// I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor //  
  
"I know someone who will help us," I said.  
  
"Who?" he asked.  
  
"My mom," I said. "Especially now."  
  
"Okay, you just have to stay with Hunter until RAW," he said. "We will tell you're dad what we are doing right before you're supposed to renew your vows."  
  
"What?" I asked.  
  
"We have to let everyone know why we are leaving and that they won't be able to find us," he said. "So...you ready?"  
  
// I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
Like today never happened //  
  
Hunter waited by the preacher for Stephanie to come out to renew their vows. I watched on the TV in my hotel room. Stephanie sat next to me.  
  
Suddenly my face appeared on the TitanTron. "Hey Hunter. Not who you were expecting huh? Well, I have just a few things to say to you. You won't like any of them though."  
  
Hunter's face was turning red. My taped speech continued to roll. "You are the biggest jerk I have ever encountered in my life. Which is why I'm leaving the WWF. And I'm taking Stephanie and our baby with me."  
  
I turned off the TV after that. I didn't care what happened after everything went off as planned. Stephanie and I had to disappear. I held out my hand to her and pulled her from the bed.  
  
She stopped me before we left the room. She lightly kissed my lips. "Thank you. No one else would sacrifice everything for me."  
  
"No one else really knows you," I answered, picking up our bags.  
  
// Today never happened  
Today never happened //  
  
He set down the bags in the hotel room in some nameless town. It was the only hotel in that town. The town we would make our home. Tension I hadn't noticed in his shoulders eased noticeably when he shut the door behind me.  
  
"It's just you and me now," I said, taking his hand. He looked at me, love in his eyes.  
  
"And junior here," he said as he kneeled in front of me to put his ear to my stomach. It was a completely different feeling from when Hunter had done the same thing. This time I felt complete. "Hey kid. I want to ask you a question. Do you think you could give me permission to marry your mom?"  
  
// Today never happened before //  
  
"Marry you?" she asked, her blue eyes wide with shock.  
  
"You didn't think I'd drag you to this little town and just live with you?" I asked her. "I love you and I want us to be a family.  
  
"Okay," she said, beaming down at me.  
  
I stood up and held her in my arms. "I love you soon-to-be Mrs. Angle."  
  
"I like the sound of that," she said, wrapping her arms around my neck. "I love you Kurt."  
  
"I love you too Steph," I replied, dipping my head to kiss her. 


End file.
